01 January 2024 , 18:11
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Abu Hamza’s children have told a US judge the description of the convicted terrorist as a hate preacher and dangerous is “funny” as they fight to have him released.
The sons and daughters of the ex strip club bouncer, 65, also argue the impending birth of a new grandchild should be grounds for his return to the UK as they want it to be “a surprise”. Collectively, Hamza’s brood portray an image of a loving man who is “one of the most intellectual and upright men you could come across”. They add: “He influences us to be charitable and helpful to others, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.”
One-eyed Hamza’s offspring – he has five sons and two daughters – tells the judge to forget his past deeds and set him free immediately on health grounds from American supermax prison ADX Florence in Colorado, nicknamed the Alcatraz of the Rockies. They want the hate preacher back on the streets of London as a free man. His daughter Mariam Mostafa Kamel wrote to the Southern District of New York court overseeing Hamza’s appeal, saying his “most beautiful guidance and spirit has stuck with me throughout my life”.
He's currently serving a sentence at Supermax in Florence, Colorado (AFP via Getty Images)She goes on to state: “The headlines used to describe my father as a ‘hate-clerik’ (sic), ‘dangerous’, ‘scary’ person, it seems rather funny and strange at the same time. Wouldn’t a so-called ‘scary’, ‘dangerous’ individual cause harm to those who oppose him in his views or even religion?” She then writes about her father’s parenting skills, boasting: “My sister and I have both grown to be fine women and good daughters that every other parent would wish to have.”
In their letters, Hamza’s family, including his wife, Najat Chaffe, pay scant regard to the crimes the Egyptian-born bouncer was found guilty of. They gloss over how Hamza allowed London’s Finsbury Park mosque to become a haven of radical Islam in Europe, hosting 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, shoe bomber Richard Reid and reportedly, three of the four London bombers.
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They also give no note to how he once gave a talk in Arabic in which he verbally attacked Jews, whom he described as “sons of monkeys” while preaching “murder and hatred” to his followers, telling them it was their “religious duty to kill” non-Muslims. Nor do they highlight how he was sentenced to life in America after being found guilty of 11 terrorism and kidnapping charges in April 2014. The moaning cleric – known in America as Mostafa Mostafa – wants to be sent back to Britain on compassionate grounds.
In documents submitted, his lawyers “ask the court to modify Mr Mostafa’s [Hamza’s] sentence to time-served plus the imposition of a five-year term of supervised release”. They also accuse wardens of “using the existence of the prostheses as an excuse not to provide the necessary accommodations and assistance it promised the extradition courts”.